Chicken and veggies stir fry with Schezuan pepper corns and a wrap...

Many times my vegetarian friends and readers ask me to suggest vegetarian versions of the recipes or a substitute for chicken or meat in a recipe. While it is possible for some recipes where Chicken is not a star ingredient, but often, like with Hungarian chicken goulash and this Hainanese chicken and rice, there is no substitute of chicken in those recipes as the main flavor is chicken. 

Here in this recipe of stir fry, the chicken can be replaced with soy chunks or even texturised (or frozen and then thawed) tofu. I know a few of you would be glad to know this.

This is another of those simple stir fries where everything comes together in just 10-15 minutes.In this case if you have some boiled chicken ready in the fridge, the job becomes easier. I had made the Hainanese chicken a week back and the leftover boiled chicken was there to be used. Hua Jiao or Schezuan pepper corns powder made my job easier. A great blogger friend of mine had come to my place some time back and had gifted me a packet of Schezuan peppercorns and Star anise. After that when we visited Mc Leodgunj (Himachal Pradesh) I picked up a few packets of powdered Schezuan peppercorns and Chinese five spics etc. The road side Tibetans sell these spices and dried mushrooms for people like me....

Good for me :-)

ingredients....

boiled Chicken breast shredded 1 cup
diced Baby corn 1/2 cup
diced carrots 1/2 cup
diced red Onions 1/2 cup
chopped Coriander greens 1/2 cup
broken whole red Chillies 2-3 or to taste
minced Garlic 2 tsp
Cinnamon stick 1/2 inch long
Star anise half a flower, broken
Hua jiao or Schezuan pepper corn powder 1 tsp
salt to taste
oil 1 tbsp  (used Sesame oil)

procedure....

Heat the oil and throw in the broken red chillies first. Followed by Cinnamon stick and broken Star anise.

Within seconds add in the minced garlic and then the diced onion in quick succession. Toss and mix well.

Add the diced Baby corn and Carrots as well and toss and stir fry for about 3-4 minutes on medium heat.

Add the shredded Chicken too, mix well and then add the Schezuan pepper powder. Mix well and keep covered for a couple of minutes at low flame.

Add the chopped Coriander greens and toss well to mix everything well.

Serve hot. Or as you desire.

It makes a nice stir fry salad for lunch boxes as it tastes great even when cold or at room temperature.

Wrapped in a thin chapati bread or roomali roti it makes a nice meal with a dip or chutney of your choice. I normally smear some hot sauce that I make with Hainanese chicken on the inner layer of roomali roti before stuffing this stir fry in it and rolling up tightly.

Makes a nice fiber filled low fat, low carb meal if the chapati is really thin.

This stir fry makes a meal by itself if you so wish. Replacing chicken with Soy nuggets is very easy here, just soak and cook the nuggets, squeeze the water and rinse under running water. Squeeze again and use replacing the chicken here. It soaks the flavors really well.

Or try tofu in the same stir fry for a dinner some day.

Do you like such Chinese style stir fries where soy sauce is not used and the recipe is completely MSG free?


And it is not Indo Chinese for that matter :-)